Mother-daughter team wins approval to replace Ruby’s on the Seal Beach Pier

The former site of Ruby's diner at the end of the Seal Beach Pier. The Seal Beach city council will hear discussion in closed session on a bid to open a new restaurant there. Seal Beach, March 19, 2014. (Photo by Brittany Murray / Press Telegram)

SEAL BEACH >> The City Council has selected a mother-daughter business team to build a $2.5-million two-story restaurant complex at the end of the pier, replacing the problem-plagued Ruby’s Diner that closed more than a year ago.

City Attorney Quinn Barrow made the announcement just before the regularly scheduled council meeting Monday night after the deal was approved on a unanimous 5-0 vote during a closed session. The restaurant, to be called “Off the Hook, Seal Beach, ” was proposed by Wendy Rothman and her daughter, Vanessa Travis.

None of the council members commented on the decision, but the audience broke into enthusiastic applause.

“We did it!” said Rothman, surrounded by a couple of dozen friends, many of whom had been at previous meetings advocating the selection as a replacement for Ruby’s Diner.

Rothman and Travis, longtime residents, had the support of the local Chamber of Commerce as well.

Ruby’s closed in January 2013 after the city found numerous problems with the property. In June 2013, city officials declared the facility to be a public nuisance and authorized $100,000 to help with repairs to the pier.

At the time, city staffers said the emergency situation included “multiple structural deficiencies and unsafe conditions,” such as deteriorated and cracked floors that expose asbestos-containing materials. Rusted electrical boxes and exposed wiring were found throughout the building, as well as cracked, exposed, uneven and deteriorating flooring in the kitchen and dining area, according to staffers. An inspection by the city staff also led to the discovery that the bathrooms adjacent to the restaurant had been vandalized.

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The city filed a lawsuit in March of last year to recover $570,000 in repairs. The lawsuit is still pending.

The Rothman-Travis plan for a two-story restaurant complex would include the demolition of the current restaurant in favor of a new building with different restaurants, including a family-oriented area on the bottom floor and an upscale restaurant with an oyster bar above.

Rothman and Travis co-own and operate the Original Fish Company in Los Alamitos.